John Stark in the Bellingham Herald blogs on plans by Rick Dubrow and a new political action committee called No Coal! which in January will make public its draft of a proposed new city ordinance that would prohibit any transport of coal through Bellingham by rail or any other means. Bellingham group plans initiative to ban coal trains

The Port of Olympia has received grant funds from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board for its habitat restoration project at Mission Creek in Priest Point Park. The port is collaborating on the project with the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group and the City of Olympia. Port gets funds to restore park habitat

Rich Childers of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says that, with an estimated 2.1 million pounds of crabs harvested in the summer season and with additional harvest coming during the fall and winter, this year’s sport crab season could break records.Record year likely for Puget Sound sport crabbing

Is the Voluntary Stewardship Program, a voluntary program for environmental and habitat protection for agriculture uses and farmlands, the answer to ending years of legal and political battles over protecting agricultural activities while also protecting critical areas found on those lands? Thurston board faces decision on program for critical areas

Eyew, yuk and shame shame: Gary Chittim reports that during Thankgiving week, Everett Public Works dumped an estimated 25 million gallons of untreated sewage and stormwater into the Snohomish River and Puget Sound. Penalties for polluting, anyone? Millions of gallons of raw sewage dumped into Snohomish River

Olympia's artesian well near Fourth and Jefferson has been preserved by the city as a place where you can fill your bottles with untreated but tested water. In Olympia, it’s still the water

The thousands of gallons of bunker oil that spilled into San Francisco Bay in 2007 from the cargo ship Cosco Busan has been cleaned up but the long-term effect has been found by scientists to be devastating to the herring population that feeds seabirds, whales and the bay's last commercial fishery. Oil from 2007 spill surprisingly toxic to fish, scientists report

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on the science and politics of regulating mercury: "Here’s what I wanted for Christmas: something that would make us both healthier and richer. And since I was just making a wish, why not ask that Americans get smarter, too?" Springtime for Toxics

Richard Pyle, an ichthyologist and database developer at Bishop Museum in Honolulu, blogs on his work in the tropical Pacific documenting reef habitats at depths of about 200 to 500 feet — an ecoregion referred to as deep coral reefs, mesophotic coral ecosystems and the coral-reef “Twilight Zone.” A Visual Feast in an Undersea Twilight Zone

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST TUE DEC 27 2011 GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST WEDNESDAY TODAY SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT...BECOMING S 15 TO 25 KT LATE IN THE MORNING...THEN EASING TO 5 TO 15 KT EARLY IN THE AFTERNOON...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT...SUBSIDING TO 3 FT OR LESS IN THE LATE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON...THEN... BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. W SWELL 12 FT AT 12 SECONDS. RAIN. TONIGHT S WIND 25 TO 35 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 5 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS. RAIN.

Congratulations to Puget Soundkeeper Alliance for suing Burlington Northern Santa Fe for runoff pollution at its Balmer Yard facility. BNSF will pay $1.5 million to the California-based Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, which will then award local grants to improve the water quality of Puget Sound. BNSF agrees to pay $1.5 million to settle water suit

Cleanup work has begun on a Northlake Community Wharf near Gas Works Park, a long-discussed project to better connect the Fremont and Wallingford neighborhoods to Lake Union through a facility operated as a second location of the nonprofit Center for Wooden Boats. Work begins on community wharf near Gas Works Park

The proposed Nahwitti Windfarm Project north of Port Hardy plans to erect as many as 50 wind turbines with a goal of producing 100 megawatts of wind energy got its environmental assessment certificate-- along with a long list of conditions. Wind farm on north Island clears hurdle

Friday, December 23, 2011

Best wishes to all for whatever way you choose to celebrate the season this weekend. Be warm. Be safe. Be merry.

But a pox on the House of Republicans and their Senate cohorts for logrolling into the payroll tax and unemployment bill the poison pill requiring the President to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada through our nation’s breadbasket. Say it, Mr. President: The pipeline is not in the nation’s interest.

Get to know your friendly laser: Remote sensing technologies are applied in ways you might not have imagined to organic crops, wetlands monitoring, coal mining, oil spills, polluted runoff... Photonics for a Better World

Poulsbo City Council members are reviewing their shoreline goals, policies and use regulations for all shoreline property within city limits, the estuary portion of Dogfish Creek north of Lindvig Way and associated tidal wetlands and upland areas. Poulsbo City Council reviewing shoreline plan

Thursday, December 22, 2011

OOPS: The correct number of Southern resident orcas is 89, not 98 as mis-keyed yesterday.

Might turn out to be one of the driest Decembers on record. Climate scientists Cliff Mass asks, then answers: Where is La Nina?

Suit was filed in federal court yesterday asking the government to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from allowing development in flood-prone areas until it can be demonstrated that development won’t harm endangered fish or whales. Battle escalates over building in flood plains

Proponents of a coal-export facility at Cherry Point have been granted their second 90-day extension for submitting their project permit and shoreline development permit. The formal environmental assessment of the project can only begin after the permits are submitted. Gateway Pacific Terminal gets extension on permit deadline

Increase in average body weight has required Washington State Ferries to reduce passenger capacity to comply with U.S. Coast Guard regulations. For example, if a ferry carried 2,000 passengers, it would only carry 1,750. Lifeboats, anyone? Obesity Rise Prompts Wash. Ferry Capacity Change

Sad that 83 of the state’s 189 full-time rangers stand to lose their current jobs. To stay on, most would have to take a major pay cut and work as little as five months of the year in one of 63 new seasonal jobs being created.83 park rangers will get pink slips next week

Vanessa Ho at SeattlePI.Com reports on the decision to remove the old fence along the Lake Washington shoreline at Seattle’s North Beach park in Madison Park. Residents in the affluent neighborhood don’t like that. Madison Park fence to come down; will masses invade?

Kitsap County road crews will be working under a new type of blanket construction permit which expedites work repairing culverts and bridges, maintaining natural water courses, removing beaver dams and repairing washed-out roads near waterways. New program to streamline environmental permits

If you like to eat: Cassandra Profita at Ecotrope/OPB learned about the Italian feast of seven fishes to celebrate Christmas Eve and came up with her list of local, sustainable fishes to feast on: Oregon Dungeness crab; Oregon pink shrimp; oysters, mussels and clams; Pacific sardines; albacore tuna; and farmed rainbow trout. A Northwest Feast of Seven (Sustainable) Fishes

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 859 AM PST TUE DEC 20 2011 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT PST TONIGHT
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 AM PST WEDNESDAY TODAY W WIND 5 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 14 SECONDS. A
CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE MORNING...THEN A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. TONIGHT NW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 13 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE EVENING.
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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Saturday’s memorial service for environmental activist and mentor Joan Thomas was touching and heartfelt. Many fine words were spoken by Martha Kongsgaard, Ron Sims, Estella Leopold, and governors Gregoire, Lowry and Evans. Washington Environmental Council executive director Joan Crooks reminded us that Joan Thomas would not have let the occasion of such a group gathering pass without taking the opportunity to organize. So, Joan Crooks said, let’s not let our elected officials use the excuse of hard financial times to roll back our environmental protections. Fight back. Here are ways if you can take a day: Legislative Workshop is Jan. 7, Environmental Lobby Day is Jan. 25. See Environmental Priorities Coalition

Industrial and manufacturing practices, from textile factories to metalworking operations, is the release of heavy metals in waterways. Science Daily reports on how Brown University engineers have developed a system that reduced cadmium, copper, and nickel concentrations, returning contaminated water to near or below federally acceptable standards. Novel Device Removes Heavy Metals from Water

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to: msato@rockisland.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Some of the thousand or so litres of heating oil that leaked from a Saanich home and entered the Colquitz River in late November is still on plant material in the upstream portion of Swan Creek. Predicted rain could affect Swan Creek oil spill

Meanwhile, a School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary study found that moving Canadian heavy oil to the West Coast, where it can be shipped to markets in California and Asia, could add up to $131-billion (U.S) to Canada’s GDP between 2016 and 2030, translating to $27-billion in federal, provincial and municipal tax receipts. Blocking pipelines to B.C. would entail loss of billions: study

And, finally for the week, Whitney Pipkin at the Skagit Valley Herald profiles Bud Anderson, head of the Bow-based Falcon Research Group. Go bird, go Bud. Birding with Bud

The new 144-car state ferry will be built by a Washington industry “team” consisting of Vigor Industrial and its US Fab shipbuilding division and subcontractors Nichols Brothers Boat Builders of Whidbey Island, Jesse Engineering of Tacoma, Vigor Marine of Everett and Eltech Electric of Seattle. Vigor announces "build in Washington" team for ferry

Recreational fishers are calling ‘foul’ over the Governor using recreational dollars from the state’s Wildlife Account to pay for General Fund salmon hatchery production that benefits commercial and tribal fishing. Angling groups: Budget shift a betrayal

Marine Lumber Services, Toth Enterprises, Puget Creek Watershed Alliance/Garden Cycles, People for Puget Sound, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle and the South Park Area Redevelopment Association each have received $25,000 in grants for projects that help control combined sewer overflows and support cleanup of the Lower Duwamish River. $150,000 in grants for the Duwamish

The market research firm eMarketer says that in 2011, the average adult consumer said they were on their mobile device for 65 minutes a day versus 44 minutes with print media — 26 minutes with newspapers and 18 minutes with magazines. Are you an “average adult consumer?” Mobile use surpasses print for first time

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

If you like to eat: Nancy Leson blogs, “When I was a kid, we ate a lot of crab. Blue crab. I'd hang out with my siblings on the docks at the Jersey shore, catching those puny crustaceans using a simple hook-and-line baited with squished-up Wonder Bread. We'd slowly reel in our catch, praying the creatures wouldn't fall back in the drink. Then, we'd toss the crab into a bucket of seawater until they'd meet their maker -- our mother -- who'd throw in a big hit ofOld Bay seasoning and steam them for us. Today, my siblings eat those crabs by the dozen alongside pitchers of beer at crab joints "down the shore" and at taverns throughout Philadelphia. But now that I'm a hard-core Pacific Northwesterner, there's only one crab for me: Dungeness.” Got crab? (Dungeness, that is.) Well, get cracking!

Oceana filed suit in U.S. District Court contending that NOAA Fisheries Service violated provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries management act by failing to account for the needs of the ecosystem when setting the harvest limits for sardines, anchovies, mackerel and squid. Sadly, much of the harvest goes for bait and feed used on fish farms.Lawsuit: Overfishing leaves salmon, whales hungry

Is Seattle ready to join Edmonds, Bellingham and Mukilteo in green? The Utilities and Neighborhoods Committee of the Seattle City Council Tuesday approved an amended plastic bag ban that will go to the full Council Monday for final action. Seattle's proposed plastic bag ban clears committee

Fixing the new Discover Pass: Washington State University’s November survey showed that the one-pass for one-car policy has a negative effect on people purchasing the Discover Card. A clause in the program that limited transferability between vehicles will become a thing of the past under legislation proposed by state Senator Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island. Ranker proposes new legislation for Washington Park Discover Pass

Know the difference between cleaning up debris in the open ocean and cleaning it up once it’s reached the shore? Open ocean cleanup efforts require hands, boat and supplies which can cost more than $35,000 per day to operate, because the composition of the debris makes it difficult to clean. Tsunami debris 'difficult to clean' and most must come up by hand

Vanessa Ho at SeattlePI.com reports on Seattle’s update of its shoreline master plan and its effects on “liveaboards.” What’s a “houseboat” and when is a vessel a “floating home?” When are you living on a “house barge” and not on a “vessel?” Seattle cracks down on houseboat-like boats

One of the Northwest Marine Trade Association’s legislative priorities is HB 1904 which would allow visiting boats to stay in Washington longer, making it easier for boatyards to install water treatment systems and protecting boaters from additional taxes. Boat battles brewing in Oly

Department of Last Resort:
The state Department of Ecology fined two livestock operators in Skagit County $14,000 each for allowing livestock waste to pollute waterways flowing into the Samish River. More than 20 agencies are involved in the Clean Samish Initiative, which aims to remove sources of the fecal coliform bacteria that pollutes Samish Bay. Ecology fines two livestock owners $14,000 each

"The Kyoto Protocol does not represent the path forward for Canada," Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent said Monday. Canada to formally withdraw from Kyoto accordDepartment of Big Money:
$100,000 to study the feasibility of uncovering Willow Creek, $177,557 to remove Suiattle River rip-rap, $200,000 to install woody materials in the south fork of the Stillaguamish River, $144,502 to restore the lower Skykomish River, $750,000 to restore the Smith Island Marsh, $369,152 to enhance the Middle Pilchuck River habitat, $300,000 to place logjams in the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, $206,280 to protect Tree Farm Hole, and $249,906 to restore Jim Creek Snohomish County gets nearly $2.5 million in state salmon recovery grants
The Nooksack tribe was awarded nearly $1.13 million in three separate grants to improve conditions in the north and south forks of the Nooksack River. The money will pay for artificial log jams designed to improve areas where salmon grow, rest or spawn. The Whatcom Land Trust received $375,000 to help buy 60 acres along the north fork to protect salmon habitat. Nooksack tribe, Whatcom Land Trust get $1.5M for salmon protection in Nooksack River

Restoration of surf smelt spawning grounds, removal of 190 derelict fishing nets and development of materials for a neighborhood salmon conservation easement program in San Juan County are possible with the awarding of $405,830 in grants from the Salmon Recovery Board. SJC receives $405K salmon recovery grant

Skagit County agencies received grants to construct engineered logjams at the south fork of the Nooksack River, purchase 105 acres for salmon protection by Seattle City Light, assess the risks of removing an old bank hardening along Robinson Road and to begin restoring Illabot Creek near Rockport. Skagit salmon restoration efforts net $2.3 million

The Olympian reports on Saturday’s Thurston County public hearing on proposed changes to its critical-areas ordinance. About 30 property owners and representatives of different groups attended. The county has not updated its critical-areas ordinance since 1994 and is proposing changes including increased buffer distances and protections for prairie habitat. Critical-areas meeting draws crowd in Olympia NPR’s Joe Palca explains why the long-running regulatory saga of AquaBounty's application to sell salmon with a growth hormone gene from one fish plus an antifreeze gene from another — which help it grow twice as fast as typical farmed salmon — does not seem headed toward a conclusion.Safety concerns linger around genetically modified salmon

Maybe this will help: Samish Bay continues to close to shellfish harvesters routinely after heavy rains, so Skagit County government has proposed declaring the entire Samish watershed a marine recovery area, which would require everyone in the watershed to have an annual or every three year septic system inspecting, depending on the type of system. County seeks extra watershed protection

About 400 of Canada’s Fisheries and Oceans employees will be affected by reductions coming out of a strategic review. More than 200 are biologists and scientists working in ocean management, fish habitat management, hydrography and aquaculture. Fisheries and Oceans employees bracing for cuts

Low halibut stocks have led the International Pacific Halibut Commission to cut combined commercial fishing catches by 17 percent in 2012. Guided sport fisheries saw a catch-limit decline of 15 percent. In southeast Alaska limits may be set at one fish per person. Tightened catch limits alarm halibut fisheries Meanwhile, New England cod fishing may be shut down from Cape Cod to Canada because of population declines but fishermen say the cod population is recovering. Scientists Say Cod Are Scant; Nets Say Otherwise

Dave Obee in the Times Colonist reviews the book, The Whaling People of the West Coast of Vancouver Island and Cape Flattery, by Eugene Arima and Alan Hoover, about the 20 First Nations who live along the sea-- - Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, Pacheedaht and Makah among them Book revisits the history of West Coast First Nations

Kitsap, Pierce, Thurston, San Juan and Skagit counties get the first round of funds under the new Puget Sound Pollution Identification and Correction Program to lower high levels of fecal coliform from failing septic systems, livestock and pet waste, urban stormwater and boats in marinas. State adopts Kitsap's pollution program

Maybe more money will help clean up the Bayview and NoName watersheds of Padilla Bay. Rabbits’ Guy forwarded findings presented earlier this week from volunteer water quality sampling of 19 sites for fecal coliform from October 2010 thru August 2011. “As you will see from the data, it is pretty bad when it rains,” he comments. Bay View/NoName Watershed water quality data 2010-2011

A decades-long study of songbirds on Portland Island and several other small Gulf islands find birds are under stress and sometimes dying because they're frightened of predators. Meanwhile, deer populations are booming because they have no predators to be afraid of. 'The fear effect' threatens survival of our songbirds

Futurewise, American Farmland Trust, the Friends of Pierce County, the Tahoma Audubon Society and the PCC Farmland Trust have appealed Pierce County’s decision to let Sumner expand its growth boundaries into 182 acres of protected soil. The Orton Junction plan would allow a mixed-use development south of Sumner with shops, medical facilities, homes and a YMCA. Groups appeal urban growth expansion near Sumner

The Case Inlet Shoreline Association and the Sierra Club Washington State Chapter have petitioned the Washington Department of Ecology to amend geoduck aquaculture rulemaking. The petitioners charge that the rule adopted by Ecology allows a permit exemption for geoduck aquaculture not authorized by the Shoreline Management Act. Citizens Petition Ecology To Change Geoduck Aquaculture Rulemaking

The Nisqually Estuary Restoration Team receives the Coastal America Partnership Award for outstanding efforts to restore and protect the coastal environment on Saturday at the Refuge. Nisqually Estuary Team To Be Honored

Climate scientist Cliff Mass reports that there’s been unusual high pressure this week and, as a result, unusual low tides along the Pacific coast. You notice anything? High Pressure Produces Low Sea Level

About Me

Salish Sea Communications provides communications and public relations services that raise visibility and engage audiences. Drawing on over 30 years experience in private, public and not-for-profit work, Mike Sato brings to you his skills and insights in developing and carrying out your print, electronic and social media projects and products. "I've been in the communications business since 1977 starting with community weekly newspapers then working for Seattle City Light, the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, Hawaiian Electric Company and, for 20 years, People For Puget Sound." Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told. WA State UBI #601395482